Intent to Raise Questions

April 29th, Academic Senate

Whose responsibility is it to manage an inventory of our computer assets?--Christina Salazar

Technology and Communication maintains the official inventory of computer equipment. The Provost's office is working with units in Academic Affairs to provide T&C with more accurate information about computers in use within the division. --Dan WakeleeAssociate Provost

• After reading two articles in The Economist recently regarding putting a real/quantifiable value on degrees obtained and whether they are worth the investment and debt, is there an organized effort on campus looking at this data and to addressing these issues?

-- A.J. Bieszczad

I can imagine addressing this question even though our alum are young, if we can get an average or median value for graduates of our university. We can use national averages of B.A. salaries over time (recoded into current dollars) as weights/baseline to predict future income. We can calculate ROI as a function of cost-of-attendance for the "average" time to degree for our campus, controlling for expected salary if the student had only graduated high school (these estimates are available) and projected over the next 20 or so years.

The math is easy. It's getting data on our alum to build a baseline that is challenging. If this question is in our future, let's generate a discussion now among our many talented colleagues about how to plan a response. We need to build and maintain relationships with our alum in order to stay ahead of the curve. I like this question. A lot.

--Michael BourgeoisDirector, Institutional Effectiveness

For International courses happening in summer, students have to pay a number of campus fees for technology and other related on-campus resources and services. Since those students are not here on campus to benefit from these resources, could the Student Fee Committee waive that fee for international courses? --A. Jiménez-Jiménez

We actually get this question regularly. Category 1 and Category 2 fees are mandatory fees (cat 1 are CSU wide; Cat 2 are campus specific); therefore regardless of where the class is being taken, how, when etc. the fees are required. For summer those fees are less than during the regular terms, but they are still required to be charged to all students. Sorry, it’s probably not that answer you wanted to hear, but because they are mandatory, they are charged to everyone.

-- Missy Klep JarnaginAVP for Finance and Budget

The Student Fee Advisory Committee met this morning and the following is a general summary of the feedback provided in relation to waiving fees for students studying abroad.

First and foremost, the SFAC does not have authority to waive mandatory campus-based fees (which I believe the question was in reference to student studying abroad having to pay Category II fees). In addition, one of the interesting points brought up by committee members was an ethical issue: students studying abroad have the privilege of utilizing IRA fees to offset that cost. Those IRA fees are among the mandatory fees paid by students even if they never utilize them (i.e. study abroad) yet the proposal asks to relinquish mandatory fees for those who do study abroad. There were some reservations about a double standard for waiving fees.

I hope this information is useful and please let me know if you would like any additional information.

--Luis Sánchez,Faculty Representative on Student Fee Advisory Committee(SFAC)

Regarding waste generated on campus- how much waste does our campus produce, including food that is thrown away? And are there ways that we can reduce that?--Jesse Elliott

I am sending a spreadsheet that lists wastes generated by each area (Housing. Dining etc). The latest data we have is for calendar year 2012. I have also attached pages from the Sustainability Score Card completed earlier in the year. (see email 4/15/14)(continued)

Year Waste Info (tons)Full Time Equivalent

Students (FTE)Waste Per FTE Student (tons) Fiscal Year Faculty Staff

Administrators TOTAL

2009

Total Recycle 810.43

3,1523.89

7/1/08 - 6/30/09 222 337 83 642

Total Landfill 788.957/1/09 - 6/30/10 190 322 84 596

Cumulative total 1599.38

4.00

7/1/10 - 6/30/11 196 338 87 621

Diversion Rate 51%7/1/11 - 6/30/12 213 367 91 671

7/1/12 - 4/25/13 213 360 90 663

2010

Total Recycle 458.91

3,1326.82Total Landfill 361.89

Cumulative total 820.8

8.65Diversion Rate 56%

2011

Total Recycle 1147.25

3,2862.86Total Landfill 663.92

Cumulative total 1811.17

4.95Diversion Rate 63%

2012

Total Recycle 1111.49

3,6033.24Total Landfill 732.59

Cumulative total 1844.08

4.92Diversion Rate 60%

(continued)Note that all of the waste frying oil is recycled through a waste to energy program that converts it into biodiesel fuel.  Dining has reduced organic waste by utilizing just in time cooking which prepares much of the food we serve to order, thereby reducing waste.  

Waste reduction is depends on the campus community who produce the waste. DFS had conducted a waste audit two years ago in Bell Tower and Aliso Hall. The audit showed more than 60% of the “trash” could have been recycled if disposed of properly. The most effective way to reduce waste is to educate and motivate the campus community. The campus lacks a committed communication program. While DFS has developed communication materials, and makes sporadic attempts, it does not have the resources to implement and continue a strong program. DFS welcomes leadership from the faculty to establish and lead an effective communication program.

--Dave ChakrabortyAssociate Vice President for Facilities Services

Do we have parking to accommodate our amount of new students in the Fall? --Nancy DeansAmendments: Do we have faculty to accommodate our amount of new students in the Fall? And classrooms? (from floor, speakers not identified)

We have an approved formula that is used to calculate the number of spaces needed on campus to accommodate everyone. That is 2 FTE per parking space. Based on an enrollment of 5000, that should be 2500. Currently we have 2547 total parking spaces and are in the planning stages to increase parking for Fall 2015. Ray also mentioned that since we have sustainability practices in place it should be noted that 498 students, 12 staff and 13 faculty utilized the bus system in Fall 2013 and 431 students, 11 staff and 8 faculty are currently using the bus to get to and from campus. --Ray PorrasDirector of Parking& Transportation Services

• In addition to seventeen tenure track hires for the coming academic year, programs will have funding to accommodate projected increases in student enrollment.

• There are facilities to accommodate the projected student enrollment for fall. Two classrooms will be added (one in University Hall and the other in Ojai Hall) in addition to adjustments to better utilize morning, evening and Friday times in the schedule.--Gayle Hutchinson,Provost and VPAA

• The Schedule Template policy permits the use of “special scheduling”. Academic Affairs will work with programs that would like to offer courses in a 7:30-8:45am slot in the future to better utilize classroom space.

-- Update 4/28/14 from Dan Wakelee,Associate Provost

We recruit new faculty expressing values around team teaching and interdisciplinarity, but there is a lack of support for their efforts once they are here. Regarding team teaching in Fall 2014, is there a policy or plan in place for our institution and administrators to support this? --F. Barajas

• Senate resolution:http://senate.csuci.edu/resolutions/2011-2012/sr11-02resolutionteamteaching.pdf

From: Provost Gayle Hutchinson:

Thank you for this timely reminder about institutional support for interdisciplinarity, which includes but is not limited to team teaching. I revisited the Senate minutes of October 25, 2011 when the resolution was proposed and those of November 15, 2011, where it passed unanimously. At that time, Provost Neuman indicated her openness to discussions about funding issues for interdisciplinary courses. That, of course, continues to be the rub. However, a number of conversations are occurring around our campus on financial support for interdisciplinary teaching. Among them: (continued)

• Beth Hartung has been working with the Mission Center Directors to restore some of the budgetary cuts to their support, and that includes support of team teaching. In the Center for Integrative Studies I committed to support 4 team-taught courses (a total of 24 WTUs) in 2014-15 as a way to institutionalize the SPIRaL courses; additionally the Provost’s Office will fund the Roving Rhetorician from the English Program in the spring semester to improve how writing is taught across disciplines; (continued)

(continued)Marie Francois, in her role as Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies, volunteered to convene an ad hoc group of chairs in the Arts and Sciences to discuss some of the questions that interdisciplinarity and cross-listing courses raise, including who decides whether a course is best offered as a team-taught or individually-taught course, and how the institution will support interdisciplinary pedagogy with resources. That group has met once to grapple with the issues, and now includes program chairs from outside Arts and Sciences as well as representation from the Curriculum Committee co-chair.

(continued)

(continued)

While I whole-heartedly embrace the interdisciplinary mission of this campus, and would consider a proposal for setting aside funds for AY 2015-16 to offer support to program chairs offering genuine team-taught courses, issues raised in the Senate in October 2011 are still unresolved. If the ad hoc group were willing to tackle some of those tough issues and bring forward a proposal in the fall term addressing lines of communication between chairs about interdisciplinary courses, assessment issues, and some of the other challenges, I would entertain setting aside a permanent pool of monies to genuinely support interdisciplinary courses (and by that I mean courses where both instructors participate in the dialog of the course).

(continued)

(continued)Finally, in the fall, we are planning an in-service meeting on General Education, including upper division interdisciplinary courses in GE. If you teach one of those courses, I encourage you to participate in the summer institute on GE course design and assessment.

• The Provost’s office is supporting 5 SPIRaL courses, four of which will be team-taught in 2014-15, with a budget of $1,000 per class for fieldtrips and supplies....that's a total of 24 WTUs for team teaching.

Dawn Neuman promised support in November of 2011. Going back through prior years, Kate Harrinton and I found the following in the Provost's Reserve fund: – In 2012-13, $15,542 to fund PHYS/ENG 388 and MATH/POLI SCI 349. It

appeared that there was a budget for support in 2013-14, but a balance of 0.

• The proposed support going forward is more generous than it's been in the past.